Sunday's NFL Roundup

Posted: September 24, 2012 - 12:07am

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RAVENS 31, PATRIOTS 30

BALTIMORE — Justin Tucker kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Baltimore Ravens a 31-30 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday night in a rematch of the AFC championship game.

When the teams met in January, the Patriots squeezed out a three-point win at home to advance to the Super Bowl. The stakes weren’t nearly as high in this one, yet the game was eerily similar.

In the previous meeting, Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal in the closing seconds. In the encore, Tucker — who took the job away from Cundiff in training camp — drove his kick inside the right upright.

The game-winning kick followed a pass interference call against Devin McCourty on Jacoby Jones.

Torrey Smith, who was playing less than 24 hours after the death of his 19-year-old brother, had six catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns for the Ravens.

Baltimore (2-1) won its 12th straight at home behind Joe Flacco, who went 28 for 39 for 382 yards and three touchdowns.

Tom Brady completed 28 of 41 passes for 335 yards and a score for the Patriots (1-2).

TITANS 44, LIONS 41, OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rob Bironas kicked a 26-yard field goal in overtime, and the Titans stopped backup quarterback Shaun Hill on fourth-and-1 at the Tennessee 7 to pull out a win over Detroit.

The Titans (1-2) blew a 20-9 halftime lead in a crazy game featuring big plays, scoring swings and some suspect officiating. Detroit scored 18 straight points, then Tennessee answered with 21 points before the Lions scored the final 14 of regulation. Detroit recovered an onside kick and got an assist from officials who did not review a possible turnover.

In overtime, Bironas’ third field goal put Tennessee ahead to stay.

The Lions (1-2) lost their second straight when coach Jim Schwartz decided not to let Jason Hanson attempt to connect on a fifth field goal. Hill, in for injured Matthew Stafford , was stopped by defensive tackles Jurrell Casey and Sen’Derrick Marks on his sneak, and Tennessee escaped with its first win of the season.

CHIEFS 27, SAINTS 24, OT

NEW ORLEANS — Ryan Succop kicked six field goals, one to force overtime in the final seconds and another from 31 yards to lift Kansas City to its first win and keep New Orleans winless.

Succop’s 43-yard field goal with 3 seconds left completed a methodical comeback by Kansas City (1-2) after the Saints (0-3) had cashed in on a pair of Chiefs turnovers to go ahead 24-6 in the third quarter.

Kansas City needed only one touchdown to win, a 91-yard run by Jamaal Charles, who finished with 233 yards rushing and 55 yards receiving.

The Chiefs also got a safety in the fourth quarter on Justin Houston’s third sack of the game.

Drew Brees passed for 240 yards and three touchdowns, but missed all six of his passes through the fourth quarter and overtime.

VIKINGS 24, 49ERS 13

MINNEAPOLIS — Christian Ponder threw two touchdown passes to tight end Kyle Rudolph and ran for another score to help the Vikings hand the 49ers their first defeat.

After a dominant start to their NFC North tour by decisively beating playoff teams Green Bay and Detroit, the 49ers (2-1) were beaten in every way by a team least likely to do so.

The Vikings (2-1) began the game boldly with a fourth-and-goal touchdown pass by Ponder to Rudolph. They finished strong by forcing three turnovers and two punts by the 49ers in the fourth quarter.

Playing against his former team in the regular season for the first time, Randy Moss had three catches for 27 yards. Alex Smith’s franchise-record interception-free streak ended at 249 straight passes.

FALCONS 27, CHARGERS 3

SAN DIEGO — Matt Ryan threw touchdown passes to three different receivers and safety Thomas DeCoud had two interceptions and a fumble recovery for unbeaten Atlanta.

Ryan completed 30 of 40 passes for 275 yards, with his first interception of the season, and a passer rating of 107.8 for the Falcons (3-0), who improved to 6-0 all-time in San Diego. DeCoud’s three takeaways, plus William Moore’s fourth-quarter fumble recovery, extended the Falcons’ NFL-high turnover differential to plus-10.

San Diego (2-1) was the third straight AFC West team to lose to Atlanta.

Ryan Mathews made his season debut for San Diego and looked good until fumbling inside the Falcons’ 5-yard line on a hit by Sean Witherspoon, with DeCoud recovering.

Schaub finished 17 for 30 for 290 yards to help Houston move to 3-0 for the first time in franchise history.

Six days after throwing three interceptions in the first quarter of a loss to Atlanta, Manning didn’t throw any against the Texans. But just as happened last week, the Broncos fell behind by 20 and lost by six. Manning did get the ball with 20 seconds left this time but didn’t get the Broncos close to the end zone.

RAIDERS 34, STEELERS 31

OAKLAND, Calif. — Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 43-yard field goal on the last play as Oakland scored the final 13 points after wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey was knocked out and hospitalized by a scary hit.

The game turned somber early in the fourth quarter when Heyward-Bey was knocked unconscious by a helmet-to-helmet hit in the end zone by Steelers safety Ryan Mundy. The hit was not called a penalty by the replacement officials. Heyward-Bey was taken to the hospital with a neck injury.

Carson Palmer then threw his third touchdown pass for Oakland (1-2) and Janikowski kicked two field goals to beat the Steelers (1-2) and give coach Dennis Allen his first win.

CARDINALS 27, EAGLES 6

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Kevin Kolb threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns and James Sanders returned one of Michael Vick’s two fumbles 93 yards for a touchdown, and Arizona is off to its best start in 38 years.

Arizona (3-0) sacked Vick five times in winning its seventh straight home game, the second-longest streak in franchise history.

Philadelphia (2-1) became the first NFL team to open a season with two one-point wins. The Eagles didn’t give themselves a chance to rally for another victory, picked apart by the quarterback they cast away and hounded by Arizona’s attacking defense.

JETS 23, DOLPHINS 20, OT

MIAMI — Nick Folk received a reprieve when his blocked field-goal attempt was negated by a timeout, and his second try was a successful 33-yarder with 6:04 left in overtime.

Mark Sanchez hit Santonio Holmes for a 38-yard gain to set up the kick. Two plays later, Folk’s try was blocked, but officials whistled the play dead as the ball was snapped because the Dolphins had called timeout.

Folk then made the winner.

On the previous possession, the Dolphins’ Dan Carpenter was wide left on a 48-yard field-goal attempt that would have given them the victory.

New York improved to 2-1, and Miami dropped to 1-2. The Jets’ Darrelle Revis and Miami’s Reggie Bush left the game with left knee injuries.

JAGUARS 22, COLTS 17

INDIANAPOLIS — Blaine Gabbert connected with Cecil Shorts III on an 80-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds left to lift Jacksonville to its first win of the season.

Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 177 yard, but Jacksonville (2-1) needed Gabbert’s big play. The Colts (1-2) had taken the lead 17-16 after Andrew Luck drove them 48 yards in five plays to set up Adam Vinatieri’s 37-yard field goal with 56 seconds left.

But on the next snap, Shorts got behind Colts safety Sergio Brown and Gabbert hit him in stride. Shorts sprinted free, diving into the end zone for the score.

Indianapolis had a chance to win it at the end, but Luck’s pass into the end zone was broken up by Aaron Ross.

COWBOYS 16, BUCCANEERS 10

ARLINGTON, Texas — DeMarco Murray had an 11-yard touchdown run, Dan Bailey kicked three field goals and Dallas won its home opener.

A week after the Buccaneers’ big push against the Giants in their victory formation, Tampa Bay used a pair of timeouts in the final 40 seconds after a failed onside kick attempt.

The Cowboys (2-1) scored twice in the first half when starting in Tampa Bay territory after turnovers. They overcame three turnovers by Romo — two on plays reversed by replay — with a defense that held Tampa Bay to 166 total yards.

Romo’s interception on the game’s fourth play set up Tampa Bay (1-2) for Josh Freeman’s 1-yard TD to Luke Stocker.

The Cowboys drew even on Murray’s run after Sean Lee’s interception. Bailey had kicks of 32, 26 and 22 yards.

CHICAGO — Major Wright returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown and Chicago’s defense had six sacks on Sam Bradford and held St. Louis to 160 total yards.

That was enough on a day when Jay Cutler struggled, and the Bears (2-1) came away with the win after an ugly loss to Green Bay the previous week. The Rams fell to 1-2.

The Bears had just kicked a field goal to extend their lead to 13-6 in the fourth quarter when Wright came up with his big return. He caught the ball at the 45 and ran untouched to the end zone, making it a 14-point game and finally giving the Bears some breathing room.

Fitzpatrick finished 22 of 35 for 208 yards as the Bills (2-1) turned to their passing game after Spiller, the NFL’s leading rusher, was lost in the first quarter with a shoulder injury.

The Bills hadn’t won outside Buffalo since the 2011 season opener at Kansas City.

Before he got hurt, Spiller scored on a 32-yard screen pass from Fitzpatrick, who also threw a 9-yard TD to T.J. Graham in the first quarter and hooked up with Stevie Johnson from 9 yards in the fourth for a 24-14 lead.